I just saw a Facebook page

 where some little hottie 19 YO Texas cheerleader is posing with a number of animals that she killed in Africa.

As a hunter and occasional back in the day deer poacher (poaching deer is a Saxon thing. Most people won't understand) I have no desire to go to Africa and shoot elephants, lions or rhinos.

I would, however love to go to Africa and photograph the anmals as I really have no desire to hunt them but would like to see them.

Anyway, the young lady that has posted her hunting adventures is getting clobbered by a bunch of the PETA set and people that really have no clue.

There is a reason there are still lions, leopards, rhinos and zebras left in Africa and the reason is that hunting them is in demand.

To put a point on it hunting has given these animals value and as a result they are well protected and managed. There's just too much money involved to let them become extinct.

Local Africans don't really care if there are lions or leopards left. The big cats there simply eat the goats and other animals that the locals raise to eat. Much like bears in cattle country, these animals cause the locals grief and if they had their way they'd simply slaughter them.

The reason they still exist is because hunting them has given them value. People want to go to Africa and hunt them, either with a gun or a camera.

The paradox here is that the fact that there is a demand to hunt them is the reason they are even alive as a species.

Hunting an African big-game animal is not cheap. It brings a lot of money into Africa. Safaris are damned expensive. This isn't pheasant hunting in the lower 40 of a local farm.

Much of the conservation of the game itself is paid for by the various trophy fees and taxes paid by hunters. Without that money there would likely be very little in the way of conservation programs.

The animal harvests are carefully managed to provide healthy herds simply because without them the hunting and accompanying money will drop off. When the money drops off the conservation programs drop off and when that happens the animals will likely face extinction.

If you look at a lion the way a cattleman looks at a wolf you will see that it is nothing more than a pest to be eliminated. This holds true especially if you are an African herding goats and have your herd chewed up periodically by a local lion.

The solution is simple. Shoot it.

While the wolf is a protected species in places you can bet your boots that when a cattleman finds a couple valuable cows chewed up by wolves he's going to take action. Likely he'll pull the varmint rifle down off of the rack and hunt himself a few wolves. Illegal or not, he's going to defend his herd. The wolf will rot in a ravine somewhere.

Shoot, shovel and shut up. Legal or not, the wolves are going down if the rancher has his say. Same holds true for his African counterpart. The difference is that the African herdsman is likely to be compensated for his losses. A professional hunter will take care of the problem for him and make a few bucks to boot, along with taxes and trophy fees. 

Incidentally, people are unaware that elephant meat is eaten in Africa and when someone shoots an elephant it is generally taken to a cannery or given to local villagers to butcher. The meat gets generally eaten.  It does NOT taste like chicken. It is somewhat like moose or elk.

Most other species also provide meat for villagers, too. In many countries the hunter is not allowed to take it with him. It goes to the villagers.

What will likely happen to the big game animals in Africa when hunting stops and the value of the animals drops to nothing is they will be killed off by locals.

While some fool in a city somewhere sees nature and hunting from the point of view he saw when he saw Bambi as a kid, he really has no clue whatsoever. The reality in this world isn't portrayed well by Disney.

While that little girl is being rat-packed by a lot of ignorant people I will admit that as a hunter I have no desire to hunt in Africa.

However, I'm not going to slight her for it.


To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY